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I E..E. EGASSE. Apparatus for Producing Hydrogen Gas. No. 229,034.

Patented June 22, I880,

meal/M N. PETERS, mmmLm-mampuaw PATENT OFFICE,

EUGENE E. EGASSE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING HYDROGEN GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,034, dated June 22, 1880.

I Application filed February 11 1880. Patented in France February 2, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

BeitknownthatI, EUGENE ERNEST EGASSE, of the city of Paris, in the Department of the Seine and Republic of France, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Producing Hydrogen Gas, of which the followin g is a specification, and for which invention Ihave obtained Letters Patentin France, dated February 2, 1878, No. 122,409.

My invention relates to apparatus for producin g hydrogen gas, more especially employed for inflating balloons, though the apparatus may be equally well employed for producing hydrogen gas for illuminating purposes, as hereinafter fully described, and shown in the annexed sheet of drawings, in which- Figure l is a sectional elevation of the apparatus, and Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate several methods of arranging the various elements or parts of the same.

The invention consists, essentially, in the peculiar and novel combination of the various elements necessary to produce hydrogen gas in arapid and economicalmanner, moree'specially designed for use in conjunction with balloons, and in the peculiar compact arrangement and relation to each other of said elements,whereby the apparatus, as a whole, is made readily portable or may be directly attached as a necessary appendage to balloons.

Although the several elements of which the apparatus is composed may not in themselves or in their construction embody any essential novelty, yet their peculiar combination, whereby the successive steps in the process of producing hydrogen gas are carried out in continuity, produces novel and useful results that fit the apparatus for the purposes to which it is designed to be applied better than any apparatus of the kind yet devised.

(t represents a compressed-air reservoir, fed by an air-pump, c. It is provided with a pressure-gage, a, and is connected by pipe or pipes a, having stop-cocks a, to a vessel,.b, containing hydrochloric acid, or to a series of such vessels inclosed within leaden boxes or holders, or holders lined with lead, to avoid accidents in case of the breakage of the vessel 12.

The stopper of the vessel bis arranged to receive the air-pipe aand a pipe, I), provided with a stop-cock,'cl, that connects the vessel 1) with the boiler or generator (1, containing zinc or zinefilings, and in which the reaction takes place. The receiver (Z is provided with a manometer, i, and a safety-valve, k, and communicates with a purifier, 6, through pipes d, from whence the gases, after having passed through the purifying-liquid, pass through pipe h, provided with a stop-cock, h, into the receiverf, provided with a purifying material, f, and from said receiver are conducted,

through pipe g, provided with a stop-cock, g,

into a gasometer or directly to the balloon to be inflated.

The receiver f may be dispensed with when the gas is employed for inflating balloons; or it may be employed as a drier, or, when the gas is employed for illuminating purposes, as a carbureter.

In Fig. 1 I have illustrated the various parts of the apparatus arranged in line with each other. This, however, is only to better illustrate the parts of said apparatus, as in practice and according to the uses made of the gases the apparatus or its parts may be arranged in any desired or convenient manner.

In Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 I have illustrated by diagrams several ways of arranging the parts of the apparatus. For instance, Fig. 2 represents the apparatus provided with a series of h ydrochloric-acid vessels, 1), communicating by pipes withv a compressed-air receiver, a, f ed by a pump, 0, and a generator, (I, and purifier e and here I dispense with the carbureter or drierf, though I reserve to myself the right to use such, especially when the gas is employed for illuminating purposes, as above'set forth.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I dispense with the compressed-air receiver a, the pump a in these figures forcing air directly into the acid vessel or vessels; and instead of the vessel 1), as shown in Fig. 1, I employ a special reservoir composed or made of refractory clay, lead, or india-rub ber, hardened; and in order to-thoroughly subdivide the gases I provide each of the vessels 1) cl 0 with perforated pipes 1, (shown in dotted lines and it will be seen that by this particular arrangement of the apparatus I obtain great power within a very limited space.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated the apparatus arranged with its various parts in one body, of circular form.

The apparatus, when employed for the inflation of balloons, for instance, being very compact and at the same time capable of generating great volumes of gases, is readily made portable, and such balloons may therefore be inflated Without first carrying them near ga'sworks from which the gas is obtained; in fact, the apparatus may be made a part of the balloon and supply the necessary gas during a voyage withoutnecessitatinga landing to make up any deficiency in the supply of gas which may result from either natural or compulsory escape, and when such a necessity arises in a place where there are no gas-works the voyage is necessarily interrupted.

Another advantage of my apparatus consists in the use of the chlorurets that are formed in the receiver or generator (1, so that the price or cost of the gas itself is comparatively trifling.

Having now described my invention, what 1 claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is--- In a portable hydrogen-gas apparatus, the combination of an air-pump, compressedair reservoir, one or more acid reservoirs or carboys, a gas-generator containing the zinc or zinc-filings, a purifier and a carbureter, their safety appliances and pressure-indicators, and their connections With each other, all arranged, combined, and constructed to operate for generating hydrogen gas forilluminating purposes or as an attachment to a balloon, substantially as shown 35nd described.

In Witness thatIclaim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of December, 1879. I

EGASSE EUGENE ERNEST. WVitnesses E. PAGE, R0131. M. HOOPER. 

